


To Plan a Wedding

by obeytherandomness



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic, Arthur's accidentally engaged, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Fluff, M/M, Merlin doesn't know Arthur knows, Oblivious Arthur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-17 23:24:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16983783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obeytherandomness/pseuds/obeytherandomness
Summary: When the knights/Morgana/Gwen realize that Arthur and Merlin don't know that they are dating they take it upon themselves to make them realize.





	To Plan a Wedding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [UzumeAmane (Penguin_Massacre)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penguin_Massacre/gifts).



> This is a slight AU that has Morgana never turning evil and Gwen never marrying Arthur, but the roundtable is still formed with all the usual suspects.

Arthur stared at Merlin as his manservant struggled to stay awake during a rather boring council meeting. It was so bad, in fact, that Merlin hadn’t even protested with his usual sarcastic whit when Arthur offered him a seat beside him. It was another late night then. And a rather bad one, if the bags under Merlin’s eyes were anything to go by. It might have even been more than one night all together.

Arthur wondered what it was this time that pulled Merlin out of bed. He couldn’t recall anything that he would have deemed dangerous, but it wouldn’t be the first time that Merlin was the one to see danger long before anyone else. If anything, Merlin was always the one to see danger first even if no one else did. Still, Arthur liked to try to know what would cause problems in his kingdom. What might be dangerous to Merlin. If he could figure these things out, then maybe he could help protect Merlin.

Merlin’s eyes closed and his chin slipped from his hand. He was only saved from slamming his head on the table by a sudden gust of wind that jerked his head back and woke him suddenly. Arthur couldn’t help but smile when he caught a glimpse of golden magic through Merlin’s eyes before it faded away. Merlin’s eyes were beautiful no matter what color they were, but the gold was so rare that it was always a treat to see it.

“Is the meeting over?” Merlin asked, looking around at the silent room that was staring at him. Arthur hadn’t even realized that they had stopped talking himself. Oh well, it was no matter since they were all aware of Merlin’s magic anyway. They would not out Merlin, despite what his manservant thought, even with the continuing ban on magic.

“Not yet,” said Morgana with a smirk. “We’ve still got a long ways to go.”

Merlin groaned.

“What’s the problem?” Arthur said, elbowing Merlin in the side and smirking when Merlin glared at him for it. “Didn’t get enough sleep? That’s what you get for going to the tavern. Again.”

Merlin groaned again. It was no secret to any of them that Merlin had never once set foot in the tavern and Gaius was a horrible liar forever thinking to suggest it, but Merlin always got so annoyed when that was the excuse Arthur found.

“You went to the tavern without me?” Gwaine said, frowning with as much affront as he could muster. “Come on. How come the one time I don’t go, is the one time you go?” Which was a lie, of course, seeing as all the knights of the round table were well aware that Gwaine had spent the night at the tavern.

“Maybe he’s just avoiding you?” Elyan smirked.

“No way man!” Gwaine laughed. “Merlin loves me. He would never avoid me. Isn’t that right Merlin.”

Usually now would be the moment that Merlin would come up with some witty comment that could outshine any knights’ teasing, but in this case he was so tired that he just stared at them stupidly.

“He shouldn’t be going to the tavern at all,” Arthur cut in so that the silence wouldn’t last. “He should be doing his work.”

“Come on man,” Gwaine said. “Give the guy a break. He’s gotta go to the tavern every now and again if he’s ever going to meet a lady.”

“Merlin? With a lady?” Arthur asked incredulously, though his throat tightened. That was never a topic he liked to discuss with anyone. It was only luck that had Merlin unable to find love in life because Arthur knew that the moment Merlin found someone to marry he would no longer be allowed to monopolize him.

“He could find a man, too,” Gwaine said, his smirk unwavered by the annoyance creeping into Arthur’s eyes. Perhaps he was just dense, though Arthur highly doubted it.

“Why would I need a man?” Merlin asked. “I have Arthur.”

The room fell silent and every single person stared at Merlin with wide eyes.

“I think it’s time you get some rest,” Gwen said, leaning forward in her chair on the other side of Morgana. She looked as though she wanted to grab Merlin’s hand in comfort, but they were just too far away for her to reach easily, so she stayed her hand to not reach over her lady.

“But the meeting,” Merlin said.

“Can be finished without you,” Arthur said. “You haven’t done anything useful anyway.”

“No,” Merlin said, shaking his head both to deny Arthur and to try to shake the sleep from it. “I’ll stay.”

But even as he said that, his eyes slipped closed and his balance toppled to the side. Arthur grabbed his arm, steadying him from falling out of his chair, but all that managed to do was cause his head to rest right on Arthur’s shoulder.

“Well then,” said Arthur after a moment’s silence. “Shall we get back to business?” he shuffled his papers, carefully laying them out for ease of reading without jostling Merlin any more than was necessary.

“Sure,” Morgana said. “Let’s talk about your marriage with Merlin. I’ve got most everything planned out. I only wonder if you plan to legalize magic before or after the wedding?”

“What?!” Arthur asked, only barely remembering to control his voice for Merlin’s sake.

“Oh don’t worry,” Morgana said with a wave of her hand. “I know you’ve been trying to keep this all a secret from Merlin, but that boy is dead asleep. I doubt anything will wake him up right now.”

“Unless it’s dangerous to Arthur’s health,” Percival said.

“I swear,” said Gwaine, “Merlin has a homing beacon for dangerous things. Whatever kept him up last night must be over now if he’s sleeping that deeply.”

“Yes, yes,” said Morgana, “which is why this is the perfect chance to talk about the wedding preparations and all that. I haven’t been able to talk to you about it yet since Merlin practically never leaves your side.”

“What wedding?” Arthur said. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh come on, princess,” Gwaine said with a roll of his eyes. “You don’t have to pretend that ring you gave Merlin the other day wasn’t an engagement present. We already know. I mean it’s kind of obvious.”

“What ring?” Arthur asked. He had given Merlin plenty of jewelry recently. Most of them had been charms of protection that he had made sure were actually that with Gaius before giving, but most of those were necklaces and bracelets. In fact, the only thing that he had given to Merlin that was a ring was his mother’s engagement ring that he couldn’t bear to hold onto anymore. It had only been logical to give it to the one person that he trusted most in this world. He didn’t even know what Merlin did with it. It was much to small for Merlin’s fingers, bony as they were, so it’s not like he actually wore it.

Except, when Arthur looked down at where Merlin rested, he could see the ring hanging from a chain around his neck. No wonder they thought that they were trying to hide an engagement.

“Don’t worry about scandals,” Morgana said. “I’ve already started working out how to get around all of that. People won’t be happy about it, of course, but they’ll have to get used to it. It’s not like this kingdom would have survived without Merlin there anyway. Most of the people love him.”

“I haven’t asked him to marry me,” Arthur said. “We aren’t engaged. We aren’t even dating.”

Suddenly, the whole room grew silent. Even the sounds of servants working in the background halted. It was so jarring, in fact, that even Merlin twitched in his sleep, though he didn’t actually wake.

“What do you mean you aren’t dating?” Gwaine asked. “You two are totally doing it together.”

Arthur glared at that comment. Leave it to Gwaine to say something crude like that.

“Oh my god,” Morgana said. Had Arthur not been so confused by this whole situation, he may have even been proud that he got her to gape in such a way, but now he just wanted her to get on with whatever she was going to say so that he could explain himself.

“I’m telling you,” he said, “we haven’t been dating. We’re just friends.”

At this Morgana actually began to laugh. “I can’t believe this. You are so stupid. How could you not realize that you were dating. Not to mention, you asked Merlin to marry you without even realizing? This is amazing. I’m never going to let you live this down.”

“We’re not dating,” Arthur said again. He would know if they were dating. It was, after all, the thing that he wanted more than anything in the world.

“Oh come on,” said Morgana. “The two of you go on dates all the time. What about all those picnics the two of you go on?”

“Those are hunting trips. And I bring the knights with me.”

“Of course you do,” Morgana rolled her eyes. “Someone needs to protect you while you both stare longingly into each other’s eyes.”

“I do not stare longingly,” Arthur protested.

“Merlin sleeps in your bed sometimes,” Morgana continued as though Arthur hadn’t protested at all.

“Only when he’s too exhausted to make it to his rooms without hurting himself. I’m not cruel.”

“But you could always escort him,” Morgana said. “Or, better yet, allow someone else to take him back to his room. Not to mention, you’ll probably bring him to your bed from here even though his bed is closer.”

“My bed’s big enough for the two of us. And it’s more comfortable. With all the things Merlin does for us, it’s the least I can do.”

Morgana raised a brow at him, still clearly not convinced by his protests.

“You eat dinner together every night.”

“Oh come on,” Arthur rolled his eyes now. Morgana was grasping at straws. “Of course Merlin has to bring me dinner every night. He’s my manservant.”

“But he doesn’t have to stay.”

“Gwen has dinner with you on occasion too,” Arthur said.

“Of course she does,” Morgana said. “But it isn’t every single night.” She gave Arthur a moment to continue his protests, but he could think of nothing more to offer on the subject, so she continued on. “And then there is of course that fact that you are legalizing magic, a law that your own father put in place, just so that Merlin can live happily.”

“Oh come on,” Arthur said. “I’m doing that for my kingdom. It has nothing to do with Merlin.”

“Name one wizard other than Merlin,” Morgana said.

“Warlock,” Arthur corrected automatically.

“What?” Morgana asked.

“He’s a warlock. It’s different from a wizard.”

“And how, may I ask, do you know that when Merlin doesn’t even know that you know about his magic?”

“I hear them talking sometimes,” Arthur said, referring to Gaius and Merlin.

“So now you’re stalking him?” Morgana asked.

Arthur would have protested once again, but the raucous laughter from his knights cut him off. “Me thinks the princess doth protest too much,” Gwaine laughed.

“Of course,” Morgana said. The knights fell silent immediately, wanting to hear Morgana’s continuation. “There is also the fact that Merlin couldn’t wait to tell Gwen the moment you proposed to him.”

Arthur gaped. Did Merlin actually think that they had been dating all this time? Was Arthur the only one who wasn’t privy to this particular fact? How the hell had he missed all the signs?

“Now,” Morgana said. “Let’s get on with the planning. It’s a good thing I already have most of it done. You wouldn’t want to disappoint Merlin, would you?”

Arthur reach up to run his fingers through Merlin’s hair. His manservant, apparent fiancé, simply snuggled a little closer to his neck and smiled. “No,” he said. “I would never want that.”

“Good,” Morgana grinned. “Now answer my question. Do you want to legalize magic before or during the wedding?”

“During,” Arthur said. He was determined to make that day the happiest Merlin would ever experience. If only because he had missed the entirety of their dating together.


End file.
